Archive | February, 2013

When it comes to finances and investing, one of the greatest fears people face is that of fraud or scams. We understand this. As result, in order to increase the transparency and confidence of our fund, we recently launched the Apiary Promise.

The Apiary Fund is an exciting and new way for people from all walks of life to learn how to become traders. We provide the training and education, and if associates are interested and reach a level of proficiency, they can become traders using our funds with no investment risk. We developed the promise to reassure and ensure people understand this is not a get-rich-quick program or scam, but a transparent, legitimate way to learn and begin trading.

You can read the promise on our website, but here are the key promises we make.

1. To outline every cost for training in advance. The only required cost to become a trader for the Apiary Fund is the tuition for our Trader Development Program and an ongoing monthly training and technology fee.

Our tuition cost covers the education materials and training to learn to become a trader. It should not be considered an investment into the fund. There is no investment in the fund required or accepted. There is also no promise associates will become full traders, though training will continue as long as wanted by the associate. The monthly technology fee is not an investment into the fund. It is a monthly cost associated with accessing our trading platform and on-going training.

Apiary Fund may offer additional products or services as a complement to its core program, but they are supplementary and not necessary for funding. For a complete list of Apiary Fund products, services and prices, you can follow this link: http://www.apiaryfund.com

2. To educate and train first. We believe the first step to becoming a successful investor is proper education and training. Since traders use the company’s money to trade, it is important to the performance of our fund that we provide top-quality investment education and training on how to use our resources, strategies and methods for successful trading. Please bear mind that takes time, dedication and a strong desire to become a successful trader. We provide the education, training, materials, system, and money to help you achieve that goal.

Apiary Fund is a trader development program that is designed to take inexperienced investors and turn them into professionals – much the same way a sports camp trains prospective athletes. We have an initial 3-month curriculum to learn our system, but training is ongoing and continues as long as you’re a part of our community.

3. To help associates become successful traders. We believe that practice makes perfect. During the 3-month Trader Development Program, associates receive an unfunded practice account to begin making trades in simulation mode. These are not real trades, but practice trades. Associates put their learning to use by doing everything they need to do to make a trade, but without actually trading.

In order for an associate to graduate from the Trader Development Program and receive a funded trading account, they must meet four basic requirements. Associates must:

· Have more winning trades than losing trades.
· Have their average winning trades greater than their average losing trades.
· Limit their loss on any trade to less than 2 percent of the account.
· Be current on their monthly training and technology fee.

We promise that we will provide funded trading accounts for 100 percent of the traders who meet these requirements. Furthermore, we promise that we will continue to work with an associate as long as it takes until they are funded.

4. To never require associates to pay money for trading. Once an associate reaches a level of successful trading we will open an account with Apiary’s money for them to begin trading live. There is never any investment money required to trade Apiary’s account. Apiary Fund Traders use Apiary’s money to place trades and receive a share of the profit made in that account. Apiary assumes all risk. There is no investment risk to the associate. Associates who have unsuccessful trades assume no risk and pay no money to compensate for their losses.

The account does have a high watermark, which means the associate must recoup any losses in their account before receiving a payout – a common industry trading practice. If associates begin to have a series or string of unsuccessful trades, they may be asked to halt trading for a period ranging from 24-hours to one week.

5. To ensure Apiary Fund is not a scam or investment scheme. The Apiary Fund was created through the private funds of its principals. We do not disclose the full amount of the fund, but it is a significant and legitimate fund used by many traders all around the world. Associates pay only for education and training. There is no personal investment risk to any associate who trades Apiary’s fund. The Apiary Fund is a private fund and does not solicit or accept any outside investment.

6. To never pretend to be a ‘get rich quick’ program. Many of our traders do very well trading in the Apiary Fund and enjoy the associated rewards and profits. However, we do not teach or suggest that anyone will get rich quick using our program. Successful trading is not learned overnight, but cultivated over time. Even our most veteran traders will tell you that they are still learning, refining their skills and adapting to the changes in the market. Apiary defines success as the ability to generate consistency in performance, to limit losses to reasonable levels and to manage the emotions of losing – and winning.

7. To make it clear what our refund policy is. Because of the proprietary nature of our training material, systems and processes, once an associate has purchased and accessed the information on our website, we are not able to provide a refund. We can guarantee, however, that we will continue to work with someone until they are funded and offer lifetime access to all of our training material. What this means is that the only way someone will fail with the Apiary Fund is if they give up on themselves.

8. To be realistic. With or without training or education, the fact remains that not everyone will be successful at the same time. Based on our own experience, here are the probabilities that an associate will receive a funded account with the Apiary Fund.
· When a trader signs up, they have a 31.3 percent chance of being funded.
· If they are in the program for 3-months they have a 42.7 percent chance of being funded.
· If they are in the program for 6-months they have a 58.4 percent chance of being funded.
· If they are in the program for 9-months they have a 62.4 percent chance of being funded.

We invite everyone to read our Promise and look into our program to see if participating in the Apiary Fund community is right them.

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This past Monday I had the pleasure of spending the morning with Doug Wells and Larry Warren from Mountain Money on KPCW in Park City. We had a great discussion on the Apiary Fund, the Investor Profile, and how to invest right for your personality type. I’ve listed some of the discussion points that I thought might be of interest for Apiary Fund traders and potential traders to hear:

Do you run a training component with Apiary Fund?Yes, you can kind of think of it like a sports development camp. You’ve got a lot of athletes that come in and they try to learn the game through different drills, talking with professional athletes, and getting a feel for how it works. That’s the same thing we do here: create an environment where people can come in, learn how to manage money at a professional level, interact with professional traders, go through trading classes and simulations, and learn how to manage money by experiencing it.

How does trading differ from long term investing?The primary difference is how long you are holding your assets. We teach an active management process at Apiary Fund instead of long-term investments where you are looking for value investments. With the Apiary Fund, we are actively looking to move money around and catch short-term movements in the market.

How are you able to trust people to trade Apiary Fund’s capital?We make sure that we provide sufficient training mechanisms so that people can come in and go through different classes. We work with them and they have the opportunity to participate in over 25 hours worth of classroom discussion and trainings with our professional traders. Then we are able to put them into a simulation environment where they learn and develop a track record. As they progress through that simulation we put them in front of real money and let them start to trade.

Where do people have to go to learn the trading techniques you teach?Actually they don’t have to go anywhere, they log in from their homes. We have traders from all over the world, even Japan, China, and Malawi. They are able to log in to training webinars from the convenience of their own home.

How do you split the profits and losses with the traders?Any profits that are generated through a trader’s activity, 60-80% of the profits go to that trader. On the risk side, there is no risk to the trader, we assume 100% of the risk.

How long do Apiary Fund traders spend trading each day?Traders typically spend no more than a couple of hours per day. We focus a lot on people that want to learn to manage money in retirement and have the kind of time to learn foreign currency trading techniques.

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As head trader of the Apiary Fund, I get a lot of emails from people describing the various challenges they’re having as they learn to trade. There are a lot of obstacles people face, but it’s generally been my experience that the biggest challenge is learning to properly frame the definition of success.

It’s a sad fact that most people go about learning to trade with flawed with self-destructive expectations. If you don’t approach learning with the right expectations, then success will always remain beyond your reach – irrespective of your desire, how hard you work, or what other resources you bring to the table.

If you want to become a successful trader and realize the wealth and freedom you desire and deserve, then you are going to have to adjust your expectations! Trading is a profession – plain and simple – and just like any other profession the road to mastery is marked by incremental achievements based on realistic expectations.

Here are eight expectations that are self-building and will empower you with a framework for success in the Apiary Fund.

1. Expect to learn from yourself.
No two traders are alike. Each has a unique personality, experience, and background that will influence their decisions and strategy. The great thing about learning to trade with the Apiary Fund is that you can learn from others, which is why our community and professional traders are so important to the success of the program. However, the false expectation some of our traders have is that others will teach you everything you need to know. You must learn to extract the lessons others give you and learn how to apply it to your own personality, knowledge and experience. The Investor Profile is a great tool to help you in this process since it helps you learn which of your personality traits support and hinder your progress.

2. Expect to study strategy.
There are thousands of profitable trading strategies out there. With over 1000 hours of strategy-focused trainings, the challenge in the Apiary Fund isn’t a lack of information but finding one that works for you. The false expectation is that you have to make decisions that fit the strategy when the real objective is finding the strategy that fits you.

When you go to the shoe store, you spend a lot of time trying on different shoes to find one that fits your goals, shape, and personality. Choosing a strategy is similar – you have to try out several strategies to find the one that fits! If you fail to find the strategy that fits, then you’ll never have the discipline to follow the rules of the strategy.

3. Expect to study time.
Time is important to traders. Not only because you need to dedicate time to learning and practice, but it’s also a critical component in performance and strategy.

Performance is time based. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how right you are in forecasting direction if you’re wrong in your timing.

Strategy is also time based. Swing trading strategies require more time than scalping strategies. The underlying patterns might be the same, but the time needed to mature is different.

The Apiary Fund operates in a global timescale. We have traders working every time frame in every timezone holding positions for any time cycle. Time is important so make sure you spend some it learning how it works in the market.

4. Expect to focus on money management.
In the same way you have to be right on direction and timing, you have to be right in how you manage your money. Traders learn quickly through the structure of the Apiary Funds risk management system that money management is critical to success.

The risk management system enforces good money management in the same way a concrete barrier keeps cars on the right side of freeway – it doesn’t prevent an accident but it helps minimizes the impact. The correct expectation for money management is to monitor yourself and don’t rely on the median to keep you safe.

5. Expect to practice and test your strategy.
There is a reason why the Apiary Fund suggests 3 months of simulated trading. I like to tell new traders, that you should be quick to choose a strategy but prolonged in testing it. There are three objectives when testing out a strategy:

Understand the rules so you can execute the strategy.

Execute the strategy with “natural” ease.

Evaluate your personal profit potential with the strategy.

Please note that profit potential is the last of your objectives. If you cannot understand how to execute with ease, then performance will not be consistent enough to be adequately evaluated.

6. Expect to learn through observation.
There are precious few “laws” that govern the market. It’s important that you practice your chart reading skills to easily identify whether the market is expanding or contracting, whether it’s trending higher or lower, whether it’s volatile or consistent. There are certain lessons that can only be learned through observation and experience.

For example, you can attempt teach someone how to drive through exceptional instruction, but they will not really learn to drive until they start driving. Through observation and experience a person is able to take instruction and gain a greater understanding of driving – or trading!

The traders who succeed at the Apiary Fund are focused on learning through observation. Every mistake is designed to teach a lesson. Every success is designed to do the same. Good traders are constantly learning from the market – and I am no exception to this rule!

7. Expect to transition into real money gradually.
Start small – grow big! That is the philosophy behind the different levels of the Trader Development Program. We are not so naïve as to think you can create a Wall Street income at our first level of funding. You are still learning. It is a transition stage. Trading real money is different than trading in the simulation account. The road to success in the Apiary Fund is marked by several transitions. With each transition comes a responsibility to make sure your performance and strategy execution stays consistent.

You should also remember that if you want to become a trader and make a living trading the Apiary Fund (or any account), then you have to progress to bigger and bigger lot sizes. You need set an expectation to work and push yourself forward through the different funding levels.

8. Do NOT expect shortcuts.
It’s not easy to become a trader. It’s hard work, and I’m glad for that. If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it. So think of trading as a profession. It requires hard work, lots of practice, but above all else it requires a proper framework for expectations.

Disclaimer

Investing in securities, currencies, and/or contracts associated therewith carries inherent risks. No person, institution, or entity, including the Apiary Investment Fund, can guarantee a return on investment for such transactions. Neither the Apiary Investment Fund nor its representatives will recommend the purchase, sale, or transaction advice for a specific security.